Chapter Three: "It's All About Delivery"
Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *October 14th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Jennifer nodded at Jason as he promptly told Kobey off. "Thank you, Major." She said, before turning back her attention to Anton. "As I said, Captain Larsson, I'll expect that to be done after our briefing. However, as you will soon hear..." She said, pressing her thumb down onto a small button of an square box; the ship's intercom. =^=Would all Nexura officers please report to the Briefing room, I repeat, please report to the briefing room on deck 2, thank you.=^= She let her thumb slip off the button, as she folded her hands together. "We have a meeting. So, folks, if you'll come with me..." She motioned for them into the lift, her hand on the up/down keypad as she awaited them. ---- *Major Michael Kabolansjo, United States Air Force **Chief Medical Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *October 14th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 "But major, I'm not as much a soldier as I'm a doctor." Michael turns back to Jennifer, "Still wondering, ma'am, now what? Because I'm standing here with my big dufflebag, waiting for any order.". He smiles as he keeps looking into Jennifer's eyes. ---- *''Kapten Anton Larsson, Swedish Air Force (PCNPC)'' **''Chief Operations Officer, UNV Nexura'' **''UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge'' *October 14th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Anton had emediatly begun plotting the course and nodded at the Colonel. He bgean warming up the FTL and after making sure he had finished his assignment he gave his station to a lieutenant that had the second shift and that was Anton's emediate subordinate. He headed down to the briefing room and sat down in one of the chairs he just looked at the other and didn't say anything. ---- *Major Michael Kabolansjo, United States Air Force **Chief Medical Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *October 14th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Michael grabbed his big dufflebag and swung it on his back, almost hitting Anton in the face, "Sorry about that." he chuckled. "Down we go." he commented as he got into the elevator. ---- *Major Jason Dracar, British Special Air Service **Executive Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *October 15th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 "Still a Major, Doc, qualifies you as a soldier. So zip it." Jason growled, his accent partially changing. He seemed to have lost his patience and good-natured humor, as he stared around a moment, before following Jennifer. ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Briefing Room *October 15th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Glancing at Kobey for a moment, she sighed as Anton was smacked in the face. "Major, you'll have your quarters' assignment handed to you as soon as this meeting's over. Some people haven't been on a ship before, so I'm going to instruct them a bit. Captain, are you familiar with the theory of relative distortion?" She spoke, glancing at Anton for a moment. Jennifer blinked as Jason snapped at Kobey. "Couldn't have put it better myself, Major Dracar, thank you." She said, somewhat humored by the exchanges between the two Majors. As the door opened, and the Officers filed out. Heading into the briefing room, she smiled at Pamela and Derek, and headed to the front of the briefing room. The room was shaped like a stretched oval, the polished oak of the briefing room a luxury item, and the leather-covered seats were cushioned and pleasant. One of the airmen closed the door, as Jennifer nodded and smiled to him, before stepping to the front of the room. Mounted on the bulkhead was a whiteboard, above it, a pull-down screen used for projections. Several markers were set into the whiteboard tray, as she looked the crowd over. "Hello, again," Jennifer spoke, grabbing a marker and yanking off the top. "Not that I needed to remind any of you, but welcome to the U.N.V. Nexura..." She said as she wrote the name down for all to see, and quickly underlined it. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, for officers whom I haven't met prior; Lieutenant Colonel James Harrings, our Weapons Officer," She said, gesturing to a bulky, red-haired man in one of the rear chairs. "Captain Isabelle Sjar, our Intelligence Officer," She said, gesturing next to a gaunt, clearly Russian woman who nodded politely. "Captain Willard Reddick, our Navigations," A blonde, tall man, who looked like he'd eaten something sour as a child, and his face never quite recovered. "And finally, First Lieutenant Ralla Young, our helmsman for this operation." "Our mission is simple; we'll be delivering weapons-grade naquadah to an outpost nearly a quarter of the way across the galaxy--about three days' journey. The outpost has apparently been overcome by an alien threat, and destroying the outpost has become essential. The Nexura was sent out to make sure this operation is completed successfully." Jennifer glanced around her officers for a moment. "Are there any questions?" ---- *Lieutenant Pamela Thomson, Royal Navy **Chief Engineer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 02 - Briefing Room *October 15th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 "Are there any questions?" "No ma'am." Pamela answered as she looked at the Colonel. She started to look around at the officers sitting at the table. She was surprised to see a Lieutenant Colonel as weapons officer when that would mean that they would be the same rank as the CO and out rank the XO that was a British SAS Major. At least she was not the only Brit on this ship. ---- *Major Michael Kabolansjo, United States Air Force **Chief Medical Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 02 - Briefing Room *October 15th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Kobey raised his hand when there was time for questions, "I have one ma'am. Why are we bringing weapons grade nagua-whaddayacallit to a facility that is most likely crawling with baddies you don't want to have this weapon-stuff.". He was genuinely confused about this which was shown on his face. ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 02 - Briefing Room *October 15th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 "Ah," Jennifer pointed her marker at Michael briefly. "That's a good question. According to the mission planner, this outpost... P8X-445 is a valuable source of naquahdria and has been compromised by the Lucian Alliance. In their report there were several aerial attacks before the Alliance pulled out, but not before they beamed several of their members down. "In that same report, they mentioned rapid mutations of those same Alliance members due to a previously unknown organism. The life on that planet was supposedly similar to Earth. However, they want weapons-grade naquahdah to cause a chain reaction in the naquadriah and wipe out the Lucian members and the alien organism." Something in Jennifer's eyes clearly reflected that this didn't make sense to her. That, and she frowned as she spoke once more. "London headquarters received the request and immediately granted it. Major, I hope that answers your question." Glancing around to the other people of the room, Jennifer cleared her throat as she slipped her radio out of her pocket. =^=Helmsman, prepare all non-officers for Faster-Than-Light speed.=^= Jennifer spoke to the bridge. "We'll be talking as we're heading to the outpost." Jennifer glanced at the whiteboard, and back to her officers. "One thing I should mention, for those of you not familiar with space-flight, is the theory of relativity. In space at sub-light speed, there is a large distortion between normal human senses, and the true speed of the ship. Essentially, everything in space is moving faster than your brain is processing it." Jennifer went on to explain the theory of relativity... for about an hour. How communications, steering the ship, and the result of weapons' fire were all substantially faster than humans could perceive, and how those in charge of steering and maneuvering the ship had to make predictions and do a large amount of math in short amounts of time. "Any questions?" Jennifer repeated, as she finally, after about an hour and a half, finished her speech. ---- *Major Derek Lucas, Canadian Forces Marine Commando Command **Embarked Marine Commander, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 02 - Briefing Room *October 15th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Lucas had been sitting quietly during the briefing, using the tablet in front of him to glance over the current crew situations. Skeleton crew had been right, there was currently only about 25 security personnel. His marine unit was also reduced from what it would be sitting at about 80. "Colonel, I would like to offer the assistance of my Marines with shipboard security, as well as for the transport of the Naquahdah. Many of the men in my unit are trained to handle WGN." The Major said. ---- **Major Michael Kabolansjo, United States Air Force **Chief Medical Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 02 - Briefing Room *October 15th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 "So, we're bringing weapons to an enemy planet to blow up the planet and wiping out the bug that has been contracted by that Alliance?". Trying to understand this mission. "Oh, and should I inoculate anyone for radiation poison from that naguadah or something?". ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 02 - Briefing Room *October 15th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Jennifer glanced over Derek before she nodded. "We'll most likely be beaming the Weapons-grade Naquadah in, but I'd want to beam some marines down to see that it gets delivered safely." She nodded, gently, before looking back to Michael. "No, it was a friendly planet. The specifics say that the alien bug was under control until Lucian Alliance members beamed down and 'roughed' the place up by orders of their superiors. They want the planet blown, and if any scientists are left, we rescue them as well." She rubbed her forehead. "I would suggest holding tightly to your seats, people." As she walked to the intercom next to the hatchway, turning it to the general channel, as she heard her own voice crackle through the ship's intercom. =^=All personnel on the Nexura, brace for Faster-Than-Light travel, effective...=^= She glanced at her watch for a moment. =^=In thirty seconds.=^= That should have been enough of a signal to the bridge, she thought to herself, before sitting in a chair at the head of the table. Thirty seconds later, exactly, all unprepared people were ripped off their feet as the ship lurched forwards into FTL. "In about a day and a half, we'll have to go into sublight speed to go around a black hole, and then we'll hop to Faster-Than." She gave a nod. "Officers. You've heard me drone on for a good, oh, hour and forty minutes, so fill out any paperwork needing to be finished, finish it, and you're free to get to know the ship." She turned to the board, slowly erasing the marker from the whiteboard. ---- *Lieutenant Pamela Thomson, Royal Navy **Chief Engineer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 02 - Briefing Room *October 16th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 "Officers. You've heard me drone on for a good, oh, hour and forty minutes, so fill out any paperwork needing to be finished, finish it, and you're free to get to know the ship." "Well I am going to going and see my new engineering bay, ma'am, it is deck 24 I think." Pamela said as she walked towards the door of the briefing room. She was thinking to make sure she went to the right floor and not going to get lost, especially as she was Chief Engineer. ---- *Major Jason Dracar, British Special Air Service **Executive Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *October 16th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Jason stood, leaning on one leg, back to a panel, throughout the briefing. "Too bad the computer board isn't working." He grumbled to himself, before lowering his folded leg, and walking out, making for the bridge. He waited there, a little while, as Jennifer's voice crackled through the intercoms, a little staticky, due to the work being done. He took a seat in the commanders chair, watching the command crew. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, send out the alerts. I'll handle the FTL drive, if that's quite alright." He stood, walking towards the piloting console, as Lieutenant Young shifted over to the co-pilots seat. As he sat down, he adjusted the seat, and swung the console over his lap, tapping several buttons, to bring the ships engines fully online. "Bring main engines online... now." He pressed the final key in the start-up sequence, and listened to the happy hum of the ships engines increasing. "Bringing FTL drive online... now." He entered in another string of commands, watching as a waiting set of coordinates entered into his screen. Painstakingly slow, he entered them in, double-checking, and re-checking them to make sure he had them correct. He tapped a small button, and activated the intercom. =^= All personnel, prepare for FTL jump in five...=^= He began feeding power to the engines, and startingup the jump sequence. =^= Four. Three. =^= He put his finger over the button, and checked every last thing. =^= Two. One. =^= The space ahead of them boiled, and burst open, becoming a stable hyperspace window. The ships engines kicked in, pushing the ship into the window, gravity from the window pulling the ship through. The space around the ship changed, as they entered the space/not-space that made up the hyperspace dimensions that they traveled through. =^= FTL jumpdrive engaged. We are in hyperspace travel. =^= Jason stood, shifting the console out of his way, and wiping his forehead. ~''Too long since I did this last. But we're en route, and that's final.''~ ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *October 16th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Jennifer spun around to Pamela, nodding. "Yes, deck 24 is light workstations. You'll find most of the computers and display boards being worked on, which is why most of the technology seems stripped down. On decks 2, and 3, we have the massive workstations where our people are working on the Asgard and Ancient beam weaponry. We're relying on missiles and railguns. Our fighters are still being assembled back at Earth's shipyards." She watched the other Officers. "I've been off the bridge far too long and I'm afraid my time has run short. If you will excuse me, the bridge's channel is channel 3 on the intercom. 1 is my personal channel, and 9 is emergency." She gave a small salute, before heading through the hatchway, folder in hand as she went up to floor 30. And sat promptly in the captain's chair. "Well. We have a bit of time on our hands..." She spoke, grabbing a fold-out O.C.P.; an Officer Control Panel, and brought up several reports along with diagnostics. It's All About Delivery It's All About Delivery